Don't Feed the Ghost Boy
by 1n5tant.Ar50n
Summary: Danny never knew what he got into with his ghost powers, but he figured using them for good was his best option. Now he discovers that the nature of his powers are not so suited for a hero, and the only person who can give him any insight is his greatest enemy. Danny struggles with the strange and dangerous nature of being a halfa, and wonders if he'll ever be a proper hero again.
1. Chapter 1: Rundown Defeat

**A/N: This is my first DP fanfic, but I have been writing generally for a few years now. I like to think I'm a decent writer, but I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for reading!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom, the ghost hunger au, or the story image.**

* * *

Danny aimed his glowing palm at the Box Ghost, preparing to give the annoying spectral entity a quick zap before sucking him into the Fenton thermos. "You with feaaaar me Phantom! I am the Boooox Ghooost!"

"Yeah yeah, you're so much scarier this time than all the other times," Danny responded. "I know you're a box ghost but you should seriously try to can it."

Danny fired off an ecto-blast...or at least he thought he would, until he saw the green glow fading pitifully from his hand. "What the hell?" he wondered aloud. It wasn't a second before the telltale white rings sprung to life around his waist, replacing his black-and-white jumpsuit with his jeans and t-shirt. Danny cried out in surprise as he dropped from the air and landed in a pile of cardboard boxes; it wasn't the best thing to break his fall.

Above him the Box Ghost cackled. "You have made a wise choice, Phantom! Embrace the power of three dimensional rectangular objects! BEWARE!"

The overall-clad ghost vanished, leaving Danny confused, and suddenly exhausted as he hauled himself up from the mountain of cardboard. He picked up the Fenton thermos, sighing as he met back up with Sam and Tucker outside the warehouse.

"All right, Box Ghost down! Again!" Tucker exclaimed, raising his hand to give Danny a celebratory high-five.

Danny shook his head. "Not this time Tucker."

Sam snorted. "Oh come on, don't tell me the 'all powerful Box Ghost' defeated Danny Phantom?"

"Not exactly," Danny replied. "I was going fire an ecto-blast at him, but my powers suddenly faded out. I transformed back and..." his voice lowered, "I fell into a pile of boxes."

"What?" Sam said, the mockery in her tone quickly replaced by concern. "How?"

Danny shrugged. "I dunno, but let's deal with it tomorrow. I'm tired and hungry and...oh man, I've probably missed dinner again."

The young ghost teen groaned. It was the fourth time this week he had skipped a meal in favour of fighting ghosts, and he knew that if his parents had been ignoring this regular weekly pattern up until now, they'd start worrying any time soon. He was not looking forward to that.

By the time he got home, Danny was famished and exhausted. Since he suddenly reverted to normal, non-ghostly Danny Fenton, he'd had to walk all the way home. As he suspected, the rest of the Fenton family had long past sat down for their evening meal; Jazz was studying in her room, and their parents were down in the lab-of course. Danny figured he would just release the few ghosts he had in the thermos tomorrow. They could wait one more night.

Danny kicked his shoes off at the door, shuffling over to the fridge; Jazz must have heard him come in, because she was downstairs in a moment. "Hey Danny," she said with a smile. "There are some leftovers in the fridge. How did it go with the ghosts?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Danny said with an unusual air of finality as he pulled what was left of dinner from the top shelf. Jazz cast him a puzzled look; he didn't look like he had too many injuries-for once-so could it really have gone that badly?

Danny didn't want to tell her about his powers disappearing. She would probably read something into it when she didn't need to; he was most likely overtired and he was only half ghost, as he was constantly reminded, so a lack of sleep would definitely affect his energy level in a fight. "Are you sure you're okay?" Jazz prompted.

Danny just gave her a tired nod as he sat down. "Yeah, I just need some sleep. As always."

Jazz gave a worried sigh. "Okay, if you're sure. I'll be upstairs if you need anything."

Danny nodded again. "'Kay, thanks," he said.

He tried to eat quickly, since he wanted to get as much sleep as he could. Tomorrow was Monday; he couldn't even remember what homework he'd been assigned over the weekend. By this point he'd almost stopped caring. He could scan through his agenda and try to finish whatever he could, but he was sure that in the grand scheme of things, it wouldn't contribute too much to boosting his grade; it was beyond saving by now.

Danny lay in bed, briefly glancing at his alarm clock: 12:34am. That meant he could get about seven hours. That was better than normal. Or at least it would have been, if he had any luck falling asleep. He pulled the covers around himself in an effort to get more comfortable, realizing belatedly, that he was still kind of hungry...

* * *

Danny woke up to the smack of Mr. Lancer's meter stick on his desk. "GHOST!" he exclaimed automatically, his heart beating wildly for a few seconds, until he realized where he was.

"No, Mr. Fenton, just me," Mr. Lancer said tiredly.

Danny's shoulders hunched and he felt his face burning as the class erupted into laughter. "Fen-turd's becoming more like his crazy parents every day!" Dash teased from somewhere behind him. Danny gritted his teeth in frustration; he was so not in the mood for this-like anyone ever was.

"Detention after class, Daniel," Lancer said, narrowing his eyes, "again."

Danny sighed resignedly. "Yes Mr. Lancer."

Sam cast him a sympathetic look and in return, he gave her a small, thankful smile. Afterwards he kept his mouth shut and did his best to stay awake for the rest of the period.

* * *

Lunch couldn't have come any sooner; Danny was starving, despite actually taking the time to eat a proper breakfast that morning. He had felt the same the night before. Maybe his busy and irregular ghost-fighting schedule was finally catching up with him. Danny looked down at his lunch tray to the ambiguous sludge on his plate that may once have been stew; he didn't even care how disgusting it looked (or tasted), since he was too hungry to complain.

"Dude, your parents even been feeding you?" Tucker asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course Tuck," Danny replied as he shoved the tasteless mush in his mouth. "I've just been pretty hungry lately."

Sam made a face as she watched her best friend eat. Boys really were disgusting. She pulled out her own recyclo-vegetarian bag-lunch, but she was finding her appetite, unlike her ghostly friend's, was quickly dwindling.

Just as Danny finished eating, a chilly wisp of blue curled out from between his lips, signalling a nearby ghost. "Man, duty calls," he said with a sigh.

"We'll cover you next period bro," Tucker said. "Go kick some ghostly butt!"

Danny nodded, casting his best friends a smile before he sprinted out of the cafeteria and made a bee-line for the boys washroom. He made a quick check to confirm he was alone. "Going ghost," he said to himself with a smile, and an ethereal ring of light appeared around his midsection, splitting in two and transforming Danny Fenton into Danny Phantom. He quickly activated his intangibility, and phased back out of the door and out to where his ghost sense was leading him.

"Good afternoon, Daniel. Shouldn't you be in class?"

Danny whipped around; standing-or rather hovering-across from the teacher parking lot, white cape flowing in the breeze, was Vlad. "Lunch break, Fruit-loop," Danny said with a resigned boredom, charging an ecto-blast in his palm. "What are _you_ doing here? You're too old for school, and you know what they say about old dogs and new tricks."

Vlad flashed the ghost boy an amused grin, his pointed teeth glinting. "Well Daniel, I heard an odd rumour last night from some very talkative spectres; they say that the Box Ghost defeated you yesterday."

"What?! That's a load of shit, Plasmius. You know it!" Danny said defensively.

"But you didn't defeat him, since I was told he still hasn't been 'returned' to the ghost zone," Vlad replied, his smile unwavering; it got on Danny's nerves. It must have showed on his face, because Vlad laughed. Silently, Danny cursed his terrible poker face. "So, it is true then? What stopped the great Danny Phantom from defeating the Box Ghost?"

"None of your business, Plasmius," Danny replied curtly. "And if that's all you came for you wasted your time, so I suggest you leave before I have to kick your ass."

 _Like I would tell him the truth,_ Danny thought. _I don't even know why my powers failed._

"I don't think I like your tone, _Daniel_ ," Vlad replied, his smile slowly curling into a scowl as a glowing ball of red began to pulse in his hand. "I'm a curious man, and I don't like to be kept waiting. What happened with the Box Ghost?"

"Nothing!" Danny exclaimed, firing his charged ecto-beam at the older halfa. In his momentary anger, the beam wasn't quite on target, and Vlad easily dodged.

"Is that the best you've got, Daniel?" Vlad teased. "Something must have you distracted."

He returned the fire, and the speeding crimson ball of ectoplasm hit Danny square in the chest before he could dodge, knocking him back into the wall of the school. The ghost boy wheezed as the breath left his lungs, and his head whacked the cement. Danny stumbled, but maintained his footing. Why was he so weak? He just hoped if he could make his transformation hold, unlike last night. Vlad was the last person he wanted to advertise weakness to.

Danny shook his head to clear his thoughts, charging another ecto-beam. This time it shot out full force at Vlad, who dodged again, but not before the sizzling green nicked his shoulder. Danny cursed inwardly. This sucked.

Danny was about to fire again, when he suddenly felt a twisting pain grip his stomach. He grimaced, doubling over onto the grass. Vlad stopped in mid-retaliation, looking oddly concerned as Danny groaned, the familiar white lights branching out around his torso and washing over him. Danny breathed heavily, pushing himself back up. _Not again!_ he thought. _Get ahold of yourself, Fenton!_

"Good lord, Daniel. You don't look so good," Vlad said, with a noticeable lack of teasing in his voice. "Alright, well, I'll save my inquiry for another time, but don't think I'll let it go so easily."

Before Danny could reply, Vlad flew off. Danny sighed, still leaning against the wall; he was let go by Vlad's mercy yet again. _What a great hero._


	2. Chapter 2: Side Effects

**A/N: So, chapter 2! Thank you so much everyone for all of the positive support so far! I never thought I'd get so many followers after just a week! You guys are awesome! So, I am hoping to have this updated once a week; I can't really say for sure what days, it will depend on when I can fit in the time to write. For those of you who are still unsure, yes this IS the Ghost Hunger AU! I know this chapter hasn't escalated too much yet but trust me I do have an idea of how I'm pacing this. Oh yeah, there's another cliffhanger; sorry not sorry? That in mind I hope you enjoy chapter two and send a review my way! :D**

* * *

 **Chapter 2: Side Effects**

Danny didn't feel like telling Sam and Tucker about what happened at lunch; he didn't want them to worry, because they did that enough already. Instead he told them it was "just some ghost" and he managed to take care of it.

He desperately wanted to go home, but, given his detention, he would have to wait an extra hour. After being forced to transform out of his ghost form once again, Danny was even more exhausted than he had been last night. He wondered what was going on, since he'd been sacrificing any and all homework time he had to catch up on sleep.

Danny stared out the window absently while he thought. Lancer was at his desk, occasionally stealing a glance at the youngest Fenton, and sighing to himself yet again; Danny knew he was disappointed, but that was the least of his worries these days. Slightly more important, is what Danny would be telling his parents. He had been coming home late almost every night this week, and even though Jack and Maddie Fenton were a little absent-minded, there was no way they wouldn't notice eventually. Danny had been getting in at almost midnight, missing his curfew and his meals...

His stomach growled, as if to agree; maybe he shouldn't have gulped down that suspicious cafeteria food after all. Then again he couldn't imagine how he would have felt now if he hadn't.

Apparently, Danny had thought too soon, because the faint growl of hunger in his stomach began to intensify, turning into a painful ache. Maybe he was getting sick. "Uhhh, Mr. Lancer?" he said timidly.

Lancer looked up from the essays he was currently grading-the stack of which he was sure didn't include Danny's-and sighed. "Yes, Mr. Fenton?"

"I don't feel so good. Can I go to the washroom?"

To Danny's relief, Lancer could read the sincerity on the boy's face, and his expression softened. "All right, Daniel. Be quick."

Danny nodded, getting out of his seat. "Thanks."

As he got out into the hall, pain twisted in Danny's gut yet again, and he made his way to the washroom as fast at he could; it was empty, thankfully. Danny hurled himself into a stall as he felt his legs weaken, and he promptly threw up whatever was left from his lunch. After a minute or two he slid down to the floor, dizzy and flushed. He struggled to think of when this had all started. Fighting ghosts in in spare time had made him tired on a fairly regular basis, so it was impossible to tell just when everything started getting bad. Right now, though, he just wanted to go home.

It was a few more minutes before he felt settled enough to get up, and he made his way back to the English classroom. Lancer opened his mouth, just about to tell Danny to be quicker next time, when he saw the boy's face, which looked paler and more tired than usual: run down. "Are you alright, Daniel?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

"I dunno, I think I'm sick," Danny replied; he didn't feel like lying, since that would have taken effort, and Danny was using all of his to stay on his feet.

Mr. Lancer set down his papers with another sigh. "Why don't you go home for today? Rest up?"

A weak smile worked its way onto Danny's face. "Thanks Mr. Lancer," he said, grabbing his backpack. Now, he just had to walk back to Fentonworks without keeling over.

* * *

Danny was surprised to find, as he entered the house, that no one seemed to have missed his presence. Jazz was nowhere in sight-probably at the library-and various whirs and clanks from the basement informed him that his ghost-hunting parents were most likely there, oblivious as usual.

He didn't particularly care. In fact he was slightly relieved, dropping his bag at the door and plodding up the stairs to his room. He still felt nauseous as he lay down, and he checked his cell phone: he had an unread text from Sam, which he opened without hesitation:

 _Hey Danny, we noticed you were a little out of it after lunch today (well, more than usual), and we were just wondering if you made it through detention okay. :)_

Danny smiled slightly, quickly replying:

 _Hey, I'm okay, I think I might just be getting a little sick. I'm gonna get to bed early tonight so I should be fine. See you tomorrow!_

In truth, however, Danny was a little more worried than he let on. If Vlad was poking his nose around then that certainly meant that other ghosts in the Zone would know he was off his game, and that would only mean more trouble for the young hero.

He stayed in bed for the rest of the evening, telling his mom that he wasn't feeling well. Like the good mother she was, Maddie Fenton made him soup; okay, so they could be a little absent-minded, but Danny knew they made up for it in every way that really mattered. Unfortunately sleep had still eluded him when he heard his parents come up from the lab, retiring to their bedroom for the night.

Danny stared up at his ceiling idly, hoping that exhaustion would eventually take over. He was just beginning to drift off, when a clinking down in the lab jolted him back into wakefulness, and the chilly blue wisp of his ghost sense drifted out on his breath. He shivered. _A ghost? At this time of night?_ he thought. _Great._

Danny quickly transformed, his heavy-headedness weighing him down even more now as his body became intangible, sinking through the second and first floors into the basement. The Fenton family's lab was permeated with a striking, astringent smell that struck Danny like a freight train, making him cough as his feet touched the floor. _What the hell is that?_

"Hello?" he said aloud. "Who's there?"

He glanced around; splattered across his parents' lab table and on the floor were large patches of green: ectoplasm, he knew. What had they been doing down here while he had been up in bed? As he drew closer, the smell began to overpower him. Was that the ectoplasm that was giving off such a strong odor? It hadn't always smelled that way, had it?

Danny's stomach turned and he felt like he was going to be sick, but before he could make a move, he heard a distorted screech, and the green, swirling form of a ghost flew past him, making its way for the ghost portal. Danny was going to let it go-after all it wasn't every day a ghost headed to the portal on its own-but as it passed him by, the smell hit him again; before he knew what he was doing, Danny's hand shot out and he grabbed the ghost by its wispy, streaming tail.

The formless ghost hissed, glaring at Danny with its hollow, crimson eyes. Ectoplasm leaked from several closing gashes on its ethereal body, covering the ghost boy's hazmat suit as he struggled to hold the entity down. Danny couldn't clear the smell of the ectoplasm from his nose, and even though it made his stomach flip, it also was intoxicating somehow. He _needed_ it, though he didn't know why.

A sense of headiness stole over him as the ghost growled, " _Leave me be, Phantom!"_

But Danny barely heard. Instead, his grip tightened; he needed whatever this ghost had, and he wouldn't let go until he got it.


	3. Chapter 3: Supplementary Pt 1

**A/N: Hey everyone; so I know it's been a while, but school's really been kicking my ass! Thanks so much for all of your understanding, and I know this update is a little uneventful but I feel like I need to give you guys something. This is only half the chapter, but I hope you guys like it anyway. Low key mysterious...**

 **Chapter 3: Supplementary**

"Danny! Wake up! _Danny!_ "

It took a few moments for him to register the familiar-and alarmingly concerned-voice in his ears, but Danny groaned in half-hearted response. He cracked an eye open, and after a brief adjustment, he saw who had woken him. "Jazz?" he said hoarsely.

"Oh my god! Danny, you're okay!" his sister exclaimed, pulling him into a smothering embrace. "I didn't know what to think! Mom and Dad asked me to get you up and there was all the blood-I mean, the ectoplasm, but it's all over you and I just thought what if you were hurt and-"

"What...what are you talking about?" Danny interrupted, a look of clear confusion casting over his features.

"Oh Danny, please tell me you weren't hurt!"

"No Jazz, I'm fine I-"

Danny broke off, and finally he saw what his sister had been referring too. His bedsheets were covered in dried green stains that glowed slightly in the early morning dimness. There was ectoplasm everywhere...

 _It's all over you._ That's what Jazz had just said. "What the hell?" he said aloud. He looked back up to his sister. "I swear I...don't know what happened. I mean...maybe there was a ghost in the middle of the night? I must have been too tired to remember."

"So then...is that...I mean is that all yours?" Jazz asked, gesturing vaguely to the greenish patches that soaked the bedcovers.

"I dunno...I guess it must be," Danny replied. "But I feel fine, I promise."

In fact, he felt better than fine. He hadn't felt this good for weeks. The sickness that had incapacitated him yesterday was gone, and despite his apparent skirmish during the night, he had energy. Now that in itself was astonishing.

There was a knock on Danny's bedroom door, and it began to creak open. "I got it," Jazz said quickly, zipping out into the doorway to come face-to-face with their mother. "Hey, mom! Danny's okay, he just forgot to put his alarm on."

"Oh, I see," said Maddie, though she didn't seem a hundred percent convinced; Danny could hear the tinge of doubt in her voice. "Jazz, Danny wasn't feeling so well yesterday. Can you tell him I think he should stay home?"

"Sure thing, mom!" Jazz replied.

"Okay, honey. Love you."

"Love you too mom!" Jazz said.

As Maddie retreated down the stairs, Jazz peered back into Danny's room. "Mom wants you to stay home, and if you fought a ghost in the middle of the night last night, I agree with her. I'll pick up your homework for you. And you'd better try to do it."

Danny nodded, offering his sister a weak smile. "Okay," he said.

"Good," said Jazz. "And if you're feeling better later you should try and get your sheets washed before mom and dad see."

Danny nodded again, and Jazz gave him a quick goodbye; she was probably going to be late to school now. He looked back to the stains of ectoplasm; he might as well clean everything up now so he didn't have to worry about it later. Besides, his parents would likely be in the basement all day anyway, as usual.

As Danny pulled the cover off his pillow, the faint smell of ectoplasm lingered, mingled with the week-old fading odor of laundry detergent, and Danny began to remember; there _had_ been a ghost last night, making noise down in the lab. He remembered phasing down into the lab, finding the low-level ghost down there...then nothing. He must have defeated it, he just couldn't have imagined himself getting so injured over an easy specter like that. Danny had a bad feeling, weighing in the pit of his stomach, like something was just _wrong._ Very wrong. He silently hoped it wasn't related to Vlad's surprise visit the day before, but something told him he wasn't lucky enough.

After tossing his sheets into the washing machine and cleaning himself up a bit, Danny ventured down into the lab, where his parents were busy scrubbing something sticky, neon green and glowing, from the tile floor. It was a startling amount of ectoplasm, even for them; it seemed he just couldn't escape the sight or the smell of it. A faint growl bubbled in his stomach. "Hey mom, dad," he said hesitantly.

Jack and Maddie Fenton immediately stopped what they were doing, looking up at their son with concerned expressions and green-splattered jumpsuits. "Hey, Dann-O!" Jack exclaimed. "How are you feeling? Your mother told me you weren't so hot yesterday."

"Oh…um, I'm okay," Danny said, but admittedly he was beginning to regret coming down to the lab. The smell of ectoplasm was making him feel a little dizzy, and he backed up the stairs a little. "I just…wanted to thank mom for letting me stay home."

Maddie smiled. "Of course honey. Now just lie down and wait a few minutes and I'll make us some breakfast, how's that?"

Danny nodded; he was starving. "Okay mom, sounds good."

Once his parents finished cleaning up, Maddie started cooking up some eggs and popped some bread in the toaster; any other day she may have brought out the bacon, but with her little boy unwell she thought that would be something best saved for another time. As the smell of her cooking drifted through the ground floor, Danny felt a sharp pang twist in his gut; he was at the table before he was even called.

"Thanks mom," Danny said with a smile.

His mother smiled back at him, and for now the both of them were unaware what consequences such a gesture of kindness could have. "You're welcome sweetie."


End file.
